Friday, December 10, 2010

I love Dubai!Yesterday morning while going to office from Shaikh Zayed Road, me & my husband saw an unusual big water spout at the roadside near Dubal factory, Jebel Ali. Though the water was far from the road, it was bursting out as a fountain & was giving idea of how many gallons of water must be wasting because of some fault! Immidiately we decided to call Dubai Water & Electricity Authority (DEWA) to make them notice this fault & take action. But we had no number of Dewa for such complain. So at 7.20 am I called 8009090, an Road & Transport Authority (RTA) complaint no. This no. is known as "Madinati" (I think "city" in Arabic). I explianed the water leakage situation & location of it. The call attendant assured me that they will inform the case to DEWA with my contact details & DEWA will get back to me. Before we take doubt on this assurance, I received a SMS from RTA, with a case reference no, of my complaint.After few minutes (around 7.40am) I received a call from DEWA technicians. They told me very politely that they have reached Dubal main gate & asked the location of water wastage & my observations of seriouseness of water pipe damage. As I was passing from there by a car, I coudn't notice much except a big water fountain & approximate location of it. I explained it to them. They called me few more times to confirm the location & asked the landmark nearby. During every call they promised me again & again that they will find the damaged pipe & repair it straight away.Finally at 8.40 am I received a sms from DEWA saying 'your notification (with refernce no) for water pipe broken has been closed, thank you'I am quite sure that they must have found the broken water pipe & repaired it soon.

In this incident the reaction timing of RTA & DEWA was really appreciable, which shows the Dubai Municipality's priority towards water & energy conservation & also policies to treat customer complains for public infrastructure!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

The time for outdoors has already started in UAE. Winter is the only time when you get to see most of the people enjoying weather & nature of UAE.

As I keep mentioning UAE has developed many parks, green areas. In Dubai one can find many of them along beaches & throughout the city. The newly developed communities in Dubai are landscaped where, not just people of UAE but also some common birds & migratory birds reside. Waking up early in morning with sound of birds outside & rising sun with calmness (& with less heat & glare) is the bliss which you can enjoy at least for 4 months here.

Recently we spent a day in one of the oldest park in Dubai. As we entered Safa Park, it reminded me of the Royal Botanical park of Sydney. The resembalnace was because of lush greenery & view of city icon (Opera House in Sydney & Burj Khalifa in Dubai). But apart from this there is certainly nothing common in Safa park & royal botanical park in Sydney or elsewhere. The biggest difference is that most of famous parks on Earth generally have naturally grown trees & greenery, though it is maintened by city councils. But the parks in UAE (which has nearly no fertile land) are mostly created by planting trees after they are fully grown & has very few naturally grown plants & trees . But after seeing the maturity of parks & remarkable maintenance, many of us don't even recognise this fact.

This park is favourite place of migratory birds, as there is a special lake made for birds along with two more lakes in park. As it was a public holiday & park was full of enthusiastic Dubaisiders we though it was not right time for birdwatching. But for our surprise there were plenty of birds & park has enough space & quiet areas along lake for birds.

The dedicated barbeque areas, chidren play area is near the borders of park making the lake area & main park secluded from these activities. Safa park is definitely a perfect example of creating sustainable habitat area in desert!

After some strolls in lush green park, a funfilled & tasty barbecue and relaxing under a tree & under the star filled sky was so refreshing for us that we felt like we're vacationing outside this harsh desert country!